Winds, dust darken city ahead of expected cold front

Published: Tuesday, December 09, 2008

ELLIOTT BLACKBURN

Strong winds downed power lines and cloaked the city in a thick brown curtain ahead of today's cold front.

Gusts of up to 60 mph slung dirt through Lubbock late Monday afternoon. Traffic slowed, trees snapped and tumbleweeds piled up against fence lines. Police shut down Frankford Avenue near 19th Street and Loop 289 after a 45-foot-tall Lubbock Power & Light pole fell into the street.

Winds reached 65 miles per hour in Denver City and 61 miles per hour in Lamesa, but most of the region peaked between 45 mph and 57 mph during the three-hour storm, National Weather Service Meteorologist Ken Widelski said.

The blustering winds and very light rain came from a different front than the storms barrelling toward Lubbock from Colorado.

"That'll roar south overnight," Widelski said.

National Weather Service forecasters issued the first winter weather advisory of the season for seven counties north and west of the city. Lubbock faced rain and the possibility of light snow this afternoon, along with temperatures topping out near 39 degrees.

Winds did not bring any damage to Xcel Energy lines Monday evening, but the company had prepared crews for today, spokesman Wes Reeves said.

Power crews expected nothing like the ice that harassed their equipment in 2006, he said.

"We're not really expecting, through this particular storm, anything on that order," Reeves said. "But we figured it was a good time to go ahead and get ready for a winter that might bring that again."